Pop divas are making a spectacle of themselves

Sunday

Mar 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Hours before Pink's recent show at Staples Center, creative director Baz Halpin is crouched beneath the stage in the dimly lighted corridor he calls "the underworld." That night, Pink's fans would witness the star scale a giant gyroscope, somersault from bungee cords, dangle precariously from silk ribbons and fly over the audience at dizzying heights.

GERRICK D. KENNEDY

Hours before Pink's recent show at Staples Center, creative director Baz Halpin is crouched beneath the stage in the dimly lighted corridor he calls "the underworld." That night, Pink's fans would witness the star scale a giant gyroscope, somersault from bungee cords, dangle precariously from silk ribbons and fly over the audience at dizzying heights.

Halpin points to crash-landing pads that swell from a trap door to protect the singer, an ornate silver rig for one of five aerial numbers and a small tank filled with water for a finale that blurs the line between circus and pop performance.

Pink's Truth About Love tour may set a benchmark for fiercely ambitious staging, and she's not alone. Pop divas including Madonna, Beyonce and Lady Gaga have upped the ante in bringing performances to the public, launching live spectacles that are as physically taxing as they are daring. Even performers such as Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, not exactly known for their flamboyant stage presences, are joining the action.

"There's been such a great heritage of incredible women performers from Tina Turner to Cher," said Halpin as he watched a dancer test the bungee-aided aerial number that opens the show. "Women were the first to bring real theater and storytelling into (concerts)." But now, he says, women have quite literally taken the concert experience to new heights with "elements of theater and Cirque du Soleil packed into a pop/rock shows."

Lady Gaga was one artist savvy enough to turn to Cirque and Broadway for inspiration onstage. Her massive Born This Way Ball tour was a master class in spectacle with a sprawling, three-story medieval castle and extravagant set pieces such as a mechanical horse, the infamous Grammy egg and a motorcycle that doubled as a costume.

With album sales flagging as compared with the record industry's glory days, live shows now play a more crucial role than ever when it comes to engaging fans. As ticket prices have continued to rise — good seats at Beyonce's upcoming shows are $260 — so, too, have fans' expectations for a show to offer more than just music.

But why is it that women are bearing the burden of taking big risks onstage? For one, the pop landscape has become more and more competitive. Gaga, Katy Perry and Rihanna have dominated radio over the past couple of years and are talked about as much for their music as their constantly evolving costumes and stage designs.

Pink, born Alecia Moore, decided to introduce acrobatic elements into her American shows a few years ago. Though she was already breaking tour records in Australia, the U.S. market was less convinced. Then she hung upside down over a vat of water at the 2010 Grammys, and everything changed. The performance showed the tough gal known for brash, unconventional pop anthems could also pull off killer, high-concept numbers.

But when is it too much? The ferocious choreography of Lady Gaga's recent tour led to a hip injury that required surgery and the cancellation of remaining dates. During Pink's 2010 Funhouse Summer Carnival tour the singer had to be rushed to the hospital after she was flung into the audience barricade because of an improperly attached harness.

Nearly 30 years into her touring career, Madonna is still breaking ground, and last year's MDNA Tour saw the singer push physical boundaries. Madonna tapped Cirque du Soleil artistic director Michel Laprise to direct the show that was an astonishing display of technological innovation that found the singer engaged in near-extreme sports that included scaling a wall and slack-lining.

"It had to be something that's unpredictable and surprising — like she's been the last 30 years," Laprise said.